Causes of Abortion and Prevalence of Brucellosis in Small Ruminant in Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Tigray region, kola Tembien wereda, Begashika watershed area in 2010. The main objective of the study was to identify the cause of abortion in small ruminant and to determine the prevalence of brucellosis. Questioner survey and rose Bengal agglutination test of blood sample of sheep and goats were used for data collection. Result from the questionnaire survey revealed that, from 82 respondents 68 (82.9%) of them were complain abortion and 62 (75.6%) of them doesn’t consider abortion as a disease. From 471 sheep and goat found in the watershed 214 (45.4%) them were aborted during the study year. Late pregnant abortion was 51 (62.2%) and 65 (79.3%) abortion occur in young sheep and goat. From the suspected abortion causes, toxic plant and brucellosis were the main. Interviewee which doesn’t consider toxic plant as a cause of abortion were 39 (47.6%) only 3 (3.6%) suspect and believe toxic plant as a cause of abortion the rest respondents doesn’t have information whether it can cause abortion or not. Blood sample from 210 sheep and goat were taken for brucellosis screening test showed that, 72 (34.3%) of the blood sample found to be positive for brucellosis. In general the present study conclude that, abortion of small ruminant in the result in massive loss and provide a negative impact on the small ruminant production. So attention should be given on prevention and control of brucellosis and further investigation on abortion causing disease should be done.

Keywords: Abortion, Brucellosis, Cause, Prevalence, Small ruminant